This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from March 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Effective formative assessment can improve student learning. Explore how the use of infographics as a formative assessment strategy can both engage students and improve learning. This workshop will help you understand what infographics are, what makes them effective, and how powerful they can be when infused into content-area instruction. Infographic creation requires the application of a range of critical skills, such as synthesis, analysis, organization, and creativity. In order to summarize and convey information correctly, clearly, and concisely, students must understand the material and their audience. Join us and learn how to get started using infographics for formative assessment. Participants will: 1. Understand what infographics are and the elements that make them effective; 2. Explore strategies for using infographics to gather evidence of student progress; and 3. Plan for student use of infographics as formative assessment. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from March 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Enrich and improve student writing with digital storytelling - giving written stories voice, imagery, and power. Learn to promote higher level thinking while students develop creativity, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills to take narratives to the next level. In this workshop, we will begin by exploring ways to improve writing with story development steps and tools; discover tech tools for editing and sharing student drafts; and finally, discuss strategies for collaborative writing. Participants will: 1. Learn how digital storytelling can enrich narrative writing; 2. Discover ways to improve narrative writing with story development steps and tools; and 3. Explore a variety of web-based tools and resources to improve writing. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This safe and straightforward site creates unique passwords within your given parameters. Choose the length of your desired password and use the checked boxes to include or exclude letters, characters, or numbers. Additional options allow you to select the number of numeric characters or symbols to add. After making your selections, click "Generate" to create your password. Additional information on the site explains why it is important to use strong passwords along with specific content on how a strong password looks.

In the Classroom

Share this site with students as part of any online safety unit. Discuss the importance of creating strong passwords. One disadvantage of using a site like this is trying to save and remember the unique passwords. Use information on this site to find free, online tools for saving and managing your passwords. As students learn more about online safety, ask them to share their tips using a video response tool like FlipGrid, reviewed here. Use Flipgrid to provide video questions to students with scenarios that might occur online due to lack of knowledge or application of safety techniques. Have students respond with solutions to these problems. Ask students to share their advice with other students using a video explanation tool like Rawshorts, reviewed here, to create short, animated video explanations.

This archived Twitter chat is from March 2018 and will open in TweetChat. The title of this chat is - Using Tech Tools to Generate Ideas in the Classroom. Through this chat participants will: 1. Discuss ed tech tools that promote critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity, 2. Discuss ways to incorporate higher order thinking skills into technology, and 3. Share ed tech tools and resources and promising practices for implementation. Read the many comments and suggestions by both the moderator and other participants.

Don't let the simple look of this article keep you away; it lists explicitly several specific threats facing children through their use of online content. After viewing these risks and corresponding data, this site shares suggestions for protecting against these threats and pre-emptive steps for avoiding many Internet pitfalls.

In the Classroom

Share this article with peers during online safety discussions. Include a link to this article on your class website as information for parents. You may also want to point out information from the article during Meet the Teacher sessions for parents and guardians. View this article on your interactive whiteboard together with students and highlight key phrases or information that is important in your specific situation. As students learn about online safety, ask them to share tips and advice through blog postings. Easyblog, reviewed here, offers features for setting up classroom accounts with individual options. As a culminating activity, ask individuals or groups of students to create an online book with advice and information about online safety using a tool like Book Creator, reviewed here. Book Creator is easy to use even for the youngest of students and offers a variety of editing opportunities.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from February 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. You and your students can create and share engaging interactive reports, presentations, assignments, projects, and more with Sway, a free app from Microsoft Office. This workshop will introduce Sway as attendees transform an outline to an engaging, modern presentation using Sway, Microsoft's digital storytelling, and presentation app. Create presentations that focus on content rather than bells and whistles. Get up and running within a class period. Sway is accessible on any device, making it a perfect addition to your 1:1 initiative toolbox. Participants will: 1. Learn basic use of the Microsoft Sway tool; 2. Learn three different ways to use Microsoft Sway in the classroom; and 3. Plan for the use of Microsoft Sway in the classroom. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

Have you found an online article that you want to read but just don't have the time? Email This is the answer. Install the bookmarklet into any browser to send ad-free articles and web pages straight to your email for reading at your convenience. Follow directions to add the bookmarklet to your web browser. Once installed, click the icon when viewing any web page. Email This sends it to your email without any of the annoying ads.

In the Classroom

How often do you see something online and can't find it later? Email This helps avoid this problem by making it quick and easy to send to your email inbox. If you teach older students with their own email accounts, send information to them for use with research projects or share for them to add to their own browser for use at any time. Because this site removes ads, it is perfect for use when sharing information with students who may be distracted by web page add-ons.

This archived Twitter chat is from February 2018 and will open in TweetChat. The topic of this chat is Tackle the Engineering Design Process With Students. Through this chat we will define and understand the Engineering Design Process, learn how to work through the 5 steps of the cycle with your students, to brainstorm ways to incorporate this process into your lessons. Read the many comments and suggestions by both the moderator and other participants.

This archived Twitter chat is from February 2018 and will open in TweetChat. Through this chat, participants will discuss how to best integrate Digital Learning Day into the classroom, share digital-learning activities, and plan how to showcase digital student work. Read the many comments and suggestions by both the moderator and other participants.

Understood is an online collaboration of 15 non-profit organizations with a goal to provide learning resources for students aged 3-20. The site offers thousands of articles, decision guides, quizzes, and more. Also, choose from unique tools such as the Parenting Coach, Tech Finder, and Through Your Child's Eyes (simulations of different learning issues). Use the Parent Toolkit to find personalized resources available by topic, grade, or learning disorder. Videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as ClipGrab, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site as an excellent tool for finding learning resources for classroom students and sharing with parents. Be sure to share a link to the site with parents on your class website or newsletter. Use items found on this site as part of your professional development activities. Organize participant's thoughts and ideas using a mind mapping tool like MindMup, reviewed here. Share websites, articles, and resources related to your topic using a bookmarking tool such as SearchTeam, reviewed here. SearchTeam allows you to share resources and add comments making collaboration easy for participants. Expand your learning and collaboration efforts using a tool like FlipGrid, reviewed here. FlipGrid is a video response tool that allows you to record a question and gather video responses. As a final product and follow-up to send to your participants, share information learned from this site and others through a multimedia presentation with Sway, reviewed here. Sway is an easy to use tool for creating professional-looking online presentations including video, images, text, and more.

This collection of reviewed resources from TeachersFirst is selected to help teachers and students learn about the MakerSpace movement and mindset. Engage your students, challenge their minds, teach cooperative learning, and more. There is no right or wrong way to do a MakerSpace. Use the tools provided to find digital options to use in your MakerSpace area. Read the professional information to educate yourself about the mindset of MakerSpace.

In the Classroom

Use these resources for your digital MakerSpace. Find tools for all grades. Don't miss the Twitter Chat for teachers just starting a MakerSpace. There are also a few sites that are more information for educators just learning about MakerSpace. Some of these resources are ideal for individual devices.

Peruse this curated list to find resources related to media literacy. Media literacy is a set of skills that help people to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres, and formats. To become media literate, students must learn to raise the right questions about what they are watching, reading, or listening to. Media literacy education is about helping students become competent, critical, and literate in all media forms so that they can appropriately interpret what they see or hear rather than blindly accepting what they are told. This collection of resources includes lesson ideas, activities, and resources for teaching media literacy skills. Be sure to also check out the media literacy professional learning resources.

In the Classroom

Today's messages come in many forms and literacy can no longer refer simply to the ability to read and write. Prepare your students to be literate citizens with this collection. Many are ideal for whole-group instruction, while others would work best on individual devices. Read the reviews to find classroom use ideas with each review. Although the list of tools is mainly geared towards grades 4-8, there are a few resources for the primary grades.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from February 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Making a learning environment accessible for everyone is critical to a successful inclusive classroom. Today's classrooms are diverse and include English Language Learners and students with learning challenges, whether they have been identified or not. Every teacher needs to be able to create and deliver content in a way that is accessible to each individual student. Fortunately, teachers already have free technologies at their disposal to assist with this. Join us as we explore strategies and tools that facilitate an inclusive learning environment. Participants will: 1. Understand the importance of accessibility; 2. Explore Microsoft tools that can be used to create accessible materials; and 3. Identify an easy new habit, hack, and/or tool they can adopt to help make material accessible for their students. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

The Consortium for Media Literacy provides this collection of archived newsletters for teachers, parents, administrators, and others involved with education. Each issue is based on a monthly theme and includes teaching ideas related to the subject along with research highlights and additional resources. Select the latest issue with the provided link or scroll through the archives listed in alphabetical order to find topics of interest. Sample topics include Cell Phones as Learning Tools and Parents and Media Literacy.

In the Classroom

Use ideas found in the newsletters on this site as the basis for professional development sessions. Organize participant's thoughts and ideas using a mind mapping tool like MindMup, reviewed here. Share websites, articles, and resources related to your topic using a bookmarking tool such as SearchTeam, reviewed here. SearchTeam allows you to share resources and add comments making collaboration easy for participants. Expand your learning and collaboration efforts using a tool like FlipGrid, reviewed here. FlipGrid is a video response tool that allows you to record a question and gather video responses. As a final product, share information learned from this site and others through a multimedia presentation with Sway, reviewed here. Sway is an easy to use tool for creating professional-looking online presentations including video, images, text, and more.

Kanbanchi is a G Suite tool for managing and organizing projects. Additional features allow you to communicate between boards and monitor progress on shared boards. Take advantage of the site's handy templates and "how-to" guides to learn about the features and use of this tool. Templates provide a starting point for creating newsletters, lesson plans, and classroom work. Customize any template with your information including images, checklists, due dates, and choice of students to complete each assignment.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of the many planning and personalization features provided by Kanbanchi for use with group projects or lesson planning. Begin slowly by using one of the provided templates, then personalizing content for your own use. Once you become familiar with using this tool, use it to organize any large projects. Create lessons with peers, plan and manage student group projects, or create an interactive newsletter. Have older students use Kanbanchi as a storyboard for writing projects or to plan and monitor large projects.

This archived Twitter chat is from January 2018 and will open in TweetChat. Through this chat, participants will Explore the basic components of project-based learning, share tech tools that aid in the successful implementation of project-based learning, and share resources and promising practices with one another. View the tools and suggestions offered by the chat moderator and other participants. Collaborate and share your own ideas.

This archived Twitter chat is from January 2018 and will open in TweetChat. Through this chat, participants will explore tech tools that can assist with managing classroom behavior and share promising practices to promote a positive classroom environment. Share your own ideas. View the tools and suggestions offered by the chat moderator and other participants.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from January 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Inspire technology integrated lessons for student learning based on web-based resources. Learn about the features and benefits of your free TeachersFirst membership. This session will briefly share how to find and use resources on TeachersFirst to help you save time. Remember, it is OK2Ask questions at any time! Participants will: 1. Explore TeachersFirst membership features; 2. Identify and share resources to support classroom instruction; and 3. Prepare to use the features of TeachersFirst membership to maximize student learning. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This archived Twitter chat is from December 2017. Through this chat participants will: discuss how to assess and incorporate students' needs and wants into instruction, share tech tools that facilitate student voice and choice within the classroom, and discuss how to create a sense of student ownership and problem-solving within the classroom. Browse the tips and tools offered by the chat moderators and participants.

This archived Twitter chat is from December 2017. Browse the tips and tools offered by the chat moderators and participants. Through this chat participants will: share specific strategies that can be used to accommodate students' learning needs, discuss ed tech tools available to assist in differentiating instruction, and discuss ways in which to make content accessible to all students.